Starting a gallery during a pandemic, while so many other businesses are shutting their doors, is a counter-intuitive move. So is opening an arts space dedicated to the high ideals of beauty in an era defined by fierce debate, political violence and art that has long abandoned its obligation to be attractive or entertaining. Yet that s what founder and owner Jeffrey Harrison set out to do with Artemesia Galerie, which is launching in the Art District on Santa Fe on February 20.
Harrison, a close friend of the late Jack Pappalardo, one of the district s founders, has been mulling the idea of opening a gallery for several years. He and his team had already purchased the space and were refurbishing it when the pandemic struck, then decided to forge ahead with an inaugural show,